


five things

by asael



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-22
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-08-16 16:33:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8109631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asael/pseuds/asael
Summary: Collected prompts from a five + one things meme. All Adam-centric, tags will be updated as needed. He wants to be Adam Parrish. He wants to walk away on his own two feet, relying on nothing but himself. He wants to not fight with his friends.  He wants too much.





	1. five times adam refused help and one time he didn't

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from Rae, who is the best.

**one.**

Adam is eleven years old. His teacher asks him to stay after class, and for a moment he's terrified. Are his grades not good enough? Has he done something wrong? His heart is not yet set on success at any cost, but it's a kernel in the back of his mind, something he will soon devote himself to. Even now he knows that he can't slip, not too badly, not if he wants to get out somehow.

But it's not that. She is carefully, awkwardly kind. She sits him down and asks about the bruise on his arm, and he knows she's also asking about the cut above his eyebrow from the week before, the slight limp from last month, the three missed days of school. He doesn't think she's ever done this before, because she doesn't seem to know what to say.

"Is someone hurting you?" she asks, and there's a set to her mouth, unspoken words in the way her eyes flicker away. She pities him. She doesn't want this to be her problem. Adam is only a child, but he knows what it looks like. He's seen it before.

He thinks of the pity in her eyes, the cold way his mother looks when she tells him it's a family problem, the anger in his father's voice when he tells Adam it's Adam's fault.

Then he says _no_ , and she looks relieved.

She doesn't ask again. 

**two.**

It's the second week of classes at Aglionby. Adam feels out of place every day, sticking out like a sore thumb. A duckling among swans, a Pinto among Ferarris. Everyone knows, just by looking at him, but none of them say anything.

Until Tad Carruthers leans over the desk Adam is sitting at and laughs.

"Hey, man, I got an old Aglionby sweater I could give you if you need a spare. Doesn't fit me anymore, but you're pretty skinny."

He laughs again, like an asshole. His eyes catch on the frayed edge of Adam's sweater.

Adam hates him.

In another world, it would be a kind offer, perhaps. Tad may even have meant it as one. But in this world, it instantly cements Adam's dislike of him.

He doesn't respond. He feels frozen, angry, ashamed. He collects his books and leaves, hearing Tad laughing with his rich bastard friends as he does. Laughing at him, or just laughing. It doesn't matter. There's no difference.

**three.**

"How about I buy you a sandwich?" Jerry-the-lift-operator says, looking at Adam with a poorly-concealed expression of worry.

It's their lunch break - or dinner break, maybe, since it's 11 at night. Adam looks up from the history paper he was writing, looks at his coworker, doesn't say anything for a moment.

He doesn't have money for lunch, of course. Sometimes he brings it, leftovers from home, but he doesn't get paid for another three days and his dad is out of work and their groceries are stretched thin. Adam did the math in his head, he always does, and his choices were bringing something to work tonight or bringing something to school tomorrow.

He doesn't want to see that furrow in Gansey's brow. He didn't think anyone would notice here.

Lunch was half a sandwich, an apple, and an energy bar. It was hours ago. Adam is hungry.

"I'm fine," he says, and turns back to his homework.

Jerry looks at him for a moment longer, then shrugs and walks away.

**four.**

They've had this argument a million times, or at least that's what it feels like. Adam comes to school with a new bruise, Gansey stews over it for a few hours or, at most, a day, and then they argue.

"You can stay at Monmouth," Gansey says, and Adam feels that familiar anger coil inside him. Gansey doesn't understand, could never understand. He's never been controlled the way Adam has.

He can't trade his father's control for Gansey's. He wishes he had the words to express that in a way Gansey could comprehend, wishes it didn't always turn to sharp words and distance between them. But he doesn't know how, and neither does Gansey.

He doesn't want this help, this pity. He doesn't want to be just another one of Gansey's things

He wants to be Adam Parrish. He wants to walk away on his own two feet, relying on nothing but himself. He wants to not fight with his friends.

He wants too much.

**five.**

It's not anger he feels when Ronan offers to teach him to fight. It's weariness, maybe, or even hollow amusement. What good would it do, except to get him hurt more? What good would it do to fight back, when his father is bigger and stronger and better with his fists?

He doesn't tell Ronan his father has a gun. He doesn't think a creature like Ronan would care, and he doesn't want to give Gansey one more thing to worry over.

Adam doesn't think any of it matters, in the end. He has to survive. That's all he has to do. Fighting back won't help with that - it'll only put him in more danger, make his father angrier, turn it into a real fight that Adam would inevitably lose.

Ronan is only offering to appease Gansey, anyway. He doesn't like Adam, is only barely beginning to accept him. When his eyes rest on Adam's bruises, it's not worry in them. Adam thinks it might be disgust, but he doesn't have a guide for Ronan Lynch, he doesn't know how to read him. He only knows that Ronan feels something when he looks at the wreck that is Adam Parrish.

So when Ronan offers, Adam shrugs it off. He doesn't get angry. He doesn't let it bother him. It isn't pity that Ronan feels, and that's all he can be thankful for.

**\+ one.**

He wakes with a jolt, a choked gasp, the remains of his nightmare clinging to him.

For a moment Adam is frozen, not so unlike Ronan after he dreams, but it's fear that freezes him this time. His father's hands, his own hands, bruising blows. It's not the first time he's had this dream, it won't be the last, but it's the first time he's had it when he wasn't alone.

"Hey."

Ronan's voice is quiet, his body warm, his arms as they slide around Adam's waist solid and real. Adam's instinct is to pull away, hide his vulnerability, even lash out with a sharp word. But that's not him, that's not who he wants to be. He shivers, briefly, shaking off the last of the dream, and no sharp words spill forth.

"I've got you," Ronan says, and it's sort of meaningless, because Adam knows he really has nothing to be afraid of. It's only his past, clinging to him, the monsters he hasn't quite vanquished.

But he takes a breath. He leans against Ronan. He lets himself accept the offered comfort, lets himself exist in the moment, lets his thoughts quiet. 

It gets easier every time.


	2. five times adam thought about kissing someone and one time he actually did

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He thinks about asking if he can kiss her, or maybe just kissing her. Is that how it's supposed to go? He's honestly not sure. But he likes her, and she seems to like him, and he sort of wants to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from Rae, who is still the best.

**one.**

His first real crush is a girl named Katie. Her hair is a soft yellow and always in braids, her eyes are a muddy green. Objectively, she's not all that pretty, but she's nice to Adam and she never says anything about his secondhand clothes. She's new to town, so she doesn't know anything about where he comes from. They talk, they hang out a little.

They're twelve years old. It's not dating, it's not quite friendship either. Neither of them really know what to do with each other.

Adam thinks about maybe asking her to be his girlfriend. He thinks pretty hard about it. He thinks about asking if he can kiss her, or maybe just kissing her. Is that how it's supposed to go? He's honestly not sure. But he likes her, and she seems to like him, and he sort of wants to.

In the end, he doesn't. Even at that age, he knows what to expect when she starts talking about him to the other kids in their class. She stops hanging out with him, though she's still polite when they talk. And honestly, Adam thinks that's for the best.

Katie is nice. She always has clean clothes and a well-packed lunch. Her mom picks her up after school. 

They wouldn't have worked out together anyway.

**two.**

At first, when Adam starts noticing boys, he tries not to. 

Girls are normal. He's seen his dad's pinup calendars, heard enough uncomfortable comments about women's bodies. And that's - well, not fine, but it doesn't bother him that much. Girls are pretty and they smell nice and Adam does like them.

He knows that he shouldn't also like boys. He _knows_ that, and he knows exactly what his father would say, and it leaves a pit in his stomach to even think about it. So he tries not to, and sometimes it works, but sometimes it just isn't that easy.

The first time he thinks about kissing a boy, it happens out of nowhere. He doesn't even like the boy that much - a guy in his science class named Jeff, loud and sort of obnoxious. But his eyes crinkle when he smiles, and he smiles at Adam a lot (he smiles at everyone a lot), and they're paired together on a project, and he's not nearly as much of a dick as Adam expects. He has nice shoulders and he's not actually a total idiot, even if Adam is pretty much carrying their grade.

And one day Jeff smiles at him and Adam thinks _what if-_

He knows he shouldn't, but it's too late. He doesn't do it - of course he doesn't - but he thinks about it, and that's just as bad, because that's when he has to admit boys are about as nice to look at as girls.

**three.**

He thinks about kissing Gansey not so very long after they've met.

It's less that he thinks about _kissing_ Gansey, and more that he thinks about _what it would be like_ to kiss Gansey. He's not even sure he actually wants to, he thinks it's more that Gansey is the first person at Aglionby to treat him like he's worth talking to. 

It's not a crush, exactly. Adam is aware of that, because he's had crushes before, and this isn't that. Gansey is attractive, certainly, but that charisma is attractive to nearly everyone, and Adam is not immune, especially when it's focused on him. And Adam is - well.

He knows what he is. He knows, with a cold distance, that lacking affection at home will make him more susceptible to reaching for scraps of it elsewhere. He's wary, incredibly so, but that doesn't make him untouchable, and Gansey is the first person in a long time to act like a friend.

Some days Adam can't remember the last time someone touched him that didn't leave bruises. So of course, when someone like Gansey is too kind to him, he thinks about it. 

But it passes, and that's for the best.

**four.**

If Adam is being honest, he would have to admit that the first time he thinks about kissing Ronan is months before he ever considers it in a serious way.

It's not like it was with Gansey. Ronan is not kind to him, barely seems to like him. In return, Adam doesn't let Ronan scare him off, ignores his more blatant attempts at intimidation, and they eventually settle into something a little more stable. Maybe it's not quite friendship yet - that doesn't happen for another month or two - but it's not quite antagonism, either.

It's around then that Adam thinks, briefly, of kissing him. It's a masochistic impulse. Ronan has not accepted him, does not like him, is packed full of warning signs. Do not touch, this animal will bite. And if there's one thing Adam knows, it's not to put himself in more danger than he already has.

He doesn't even like Ronan that much. But there is something magnetic about Ronan Lynch, a dark sort of charisma that mirrors Gansey's bright friendliness, something that draws the attention even while telling you to keep your distance. He's handsome in the way a poisonous snake is, and Adam hates it a little.

Adam thinks if he kissed Ronan he'd get cut on his edges. It would end in bruises, and he has enough of those already. Ronan is a problem for someone else to solve.

**five.**

He thinks about kissing Blue a lot. And why shouldn't he? They're dating, or something like it. She likes him. He likes her. It should be simple.

It isn't. It's only too clear that she doesn't want to kiss him, and he doesn't know why.

Sometimes it doesn't matter. She still holds his hand and smiles at him and joins them on their adventures. She's still remarkably pretty, sitting across from him at Nino's, taking her break while they're there so she can join them for a few minutes.

Adam wonders what would happen if he just leaned over and kissed her, the way he wants to. He's pretty sure he knows, though. She'd stop him, like she has every other time. It's him, probably, there is something innately wrong with him that makes it difficult for anyone to like him, for anyone to want to touch him.

He accepts that, but it stings. 

He watches her for a moment, then something curls in the corner of his eyes, and it's nothing but he's distracted because when will he stop seeing things? What's wrong with him? Why won't Blue kiss him?

He does eventually get his answers.

**\+ one.**

"They still let you on school grounds?" Adam says, crossing the parking lot to Ronan's BMW, a half-smile on his face, a bag full of books over his shoulder. 

"You think they're gonna try to kick me off?" Ronan is leaning against his car, arms crossed, all leather jacket and artfully ripped jeans, shaved head and sharp smile. Warning sirens blaring from every movement.

Adam steps closer, puts a hand on Ronan's chest to steady himself, and leans in to kiss his boyfriend.

People can see. They're probably staring. It's not the first time that Ronan Lynch, Aglionby dropout, has appeared on school grounds to pick up Adam. It's not even the first time they've kissed in view of the entire world. But Adam doesn't care who sees anymore, doesn't care what anyone might think.

He only cares that he has this. That Ronan is warm under his touch, that he rests his hand on Adam's hip and pulls him in for another kiss, both of them always hungry for more, even if it's been months since the first time.

He's never gotten cut. There are no bruises. Part of Adam is amazed to remember he ever thought such things of Ronan, but he wasn't wrong then. They've both changed, grown into each other, fought their own demons and won, found each other in the end.

He kisses Ronan again, and it's so easy, so quietly perfect. Ronan kisses like a wildfire, or sometimes like a gentle rain, or sometimes just like a teenage boy, and Adam likes all of it.

It was worth waiting for.


	3. five secrets adam kept and one he revealed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's funny, really, going from lying about the damage his father did to lying about the magic that's part of him. To Adam, there's a world of difference, it means everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from Nico!

**one.**

The dog hasn't done anything wrong. It's just being a dog, and Adam doesn't think it has any toys of its own. It belongs to a neighbor a few trailers over, and mostly just runs around the trailer park on its own, but it's friendly. Adam plays with it sometimes.

It's just a dog, it doesn't know not to chew up things that don't belong to it. 

So when Adam's father roars through the trailer, looking for his lost work boot, Adam doesn't tell him that the neighbor's dog chewed it up. He doesn't tell his father that he threw the boot out, ushered the dog away, covered it up. Instead, he tells his father that he has no idea what happened.

He's already a good liar. He has to be.

He pays for it later, when his father's anger and annoyance spills out to fill their tiny trailer, spills over on to him. But it isn't as bad as it could have been, and Adam understands why, understands what he did to deserve it. 

The dog wouldn't have.

**two.**

It really isn't difficult to tell when someone is cheating off you. Adam in particular is more observant than most, because he's always had to be. He's fifteen minutes into their algebra final test when he figures out the guy next to him is cheating off his test.

It's the quick, cautious glances that do it, the way he looks for too long. Adam thinks about telling the teacher. He studied for this, he worked hard, he has to keep his grades up if he wants to make it into Aglionby. It's not fair for someone else to profit off his hard work.

But since when has the world been fair? Adam knows this guy, Patrick. His uncle lives in the same trailer park as Adam, though Patrick doesn't, and they've seen each other around a couple times. Adam doesn't know the details there, but he doesn't think they're too dissimilar to his own. It's only their motivation that's different. Adam wants out and is willing to do whatever it takes to get that.

Patrick just wants to make it through school. He just wants to survive.

So Adam turns his head, their eyes meet. He wants Patrick to know he knows. It isn't going to happen again - Patrick turns red, looks away, embarrassed - and that's all that matters. Adam doesn't tell anyone. It's just one test.

**three.**

Outside of Gansey and Noah and - maybe - Ronan, Adam doesn't have any friends at Aglionby. It doesn't bother him, since three (two and a half?) friends is considerably more than the zero he's had for most of his life, but it's still noticeable. It's brought to stark relief when one of the other students shows up at Boyd's and looks at Adam like a deer in headlights.

It's obvious he didn't expect to find a fellow student here, not even charity case Adam Parrish. It's obvious he doesn't know what to do about it.

Adam ignores the stare, looks over his car. The headlights are smashed, the windshield cracked, and CHEATER has been scratched into the paint on the hood.

If he were better at being friendly, he might make a crack about angry girlfriends, but he's not particularly inclined to be friendly to someone who wouldn't even give him the time of day at school.

But when Adam quotes the price, his customer fidgets and looks embarrassed and asks him, quietly, not to tell anybody. His father would be furious.

Really, there isn't anyone Adam could tell. But just for a moment, he feels a sort of sympathy, and he knows he won't tell a soul - not even Ronan, who would probably think it was hilarious.

**four.**

Adam sways, catching at the edge of his desk so he doesn't lose his footing. It's Cabeswater, of course, Cabeswater curling through his mind, branches unfurling across his vision. He looks at the door to the classroom, dappled with the shadows of leaves now, and tries to focus on where he is. What he's doing.

He can calm the forest, usually, promise it he'll scry as soon as he can, find out what it needs and help it. But it reaches out to him still, and the sudden unmooring from reality never gets easier.

I'm at _school_ , he thinks, ridiculously. He is sure a magical forest has no idea what school even is, much less why it should not bother him there.

He hears something and looks up. It's the teacher, but on the wrong side - his left side, with the bad ear - and with Cabeswater filling his senses it's almost impossible to understand her. He thinks she's asking if he's all right.

"I'm fine," he says, "just dizzy." And he's so used to lying that it almost feels true. It's funny, really, going from lying about the damage his father did to lying about the magic that's part of him. To Adam, there's a world of difference, it means everything.

His father was a shameful secret. Cabeswater is the most precious secret he's ever kept.

**five.**

Over the months since things began between them, Adam has ended up with a number of strange, impossible objects. It's what he should have expected, getting involved with Ronan. At this point, Adam just rolls his eyes and accepts the strange gifts he's sent, knowing there's no point in arguing. He doesn't even think about them much anymore.

Except now he's away at college and none of the people here could even imagine a creature like Ronan, could even believe that magic exists. Much less that someone could take things out of dreams. So every once in awhile there's an awkward moment - like now.

Adam lent a pen to the boy sitting next to him, and now the boy is full of amazed questions. Questions like _where did you get this_ and _how does it change colors on its own_ and _I swear it corrected my spelling on its own, can pens do that?_.

Adam takes a careful breath, reminds himself once more to be sure to hand over the cheap pen he got in a 12-pack at the dollar store next time, and murmurs something about a relative who's an inventor, and how he's testing a new product.

People always buy his lies, and it always relieves him. 

**\+ one.**

Adam isn't really used to people being interested in what he's doing, so when he pulls out his phone to check the time, he isn't expecting anyone to be watching. But someone is - Bryan, one of the people in his study group, sitting next to him. Bryan leans over, looking excited, eyes on the background of Adam's phone.

"Oh, hey! Is that you? Who are those people?"

At first Adam just looks at him, startled, but it quickly becomes clear that Bryan is not the only one who's interested in the 'mysterious Adam Parrish'. It's true that he doesn't talk about himself much, if at all - it's an ingrained habit from years of having to keep secrets. Most people are mainly interested in talking about themselves, so it's not difficult.

But in that moment, Adam realizes that his reticence has only increased their curiosity. The picture he has as his phone background is the first most of them have seen of his life outside college, and they actually seem interested.

He hesitates, because he's still not used to being open - talking about himself, sharing things. But, in the end, why does this need to be a secret? He smiles, just a little, and taps the picture.

"That's my best friend, Gansey, and my boyfriend next to him. And these others -"


	4. five times adam wished he was someone else and the one time he was glad to be who he was

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He wants to shrink away, wants to disappear. Usually he barely gets noticed - on purpose, of course - but now he can't avoid their whispers, their looks. The crueler ones think it's funny, the kinder ones just pity him, and he doesn't want any of it. He wishes he were somewhere else. He wishes he weren't a Parrish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from Tsu! This is the last one. Thanks for reading!

**one.**

"Yeah, but they live in a trailer park."

"My dad said his dad got fired for showing up late to work too many times."

"Come on, didn't you see the holes in his shoes?"

Adam hunkers down, tries not to listen. Tries not to pay attention to his whispering classmates. He's not the only poor kid here, but apparently he's the only one who couldn't afford the ten bucks for their field trip to a nearby museum, and apparently his teacher needed to inform him of this in a loud enough voice that the rest of the class could hear.

He wants to shrink away, wants to disappear. Usually he barely gets noticed - on purpose, of course - but now he can't avoid their whispers, their looks. The crueler ones think it's funny, the kinder ones just pity him, and he doesn't want any of it. He wishes he were somewhere else. He wishes he weren't a Parrish.

He wishes his dad hadn't spent half his paycheck on whiskey.

**two.**

He's biking home when the truck rolls up next to him, kicking dust in his face. It's an older model, beat up, and Adam doesn't immediately recognize it. Why should he?

He slows, but doesn't stop. Wariness is his first reaction, and it's warranted, as he quickly discovers. The window rolls down, an older man leans out. Adam didn't recognize the truck, but he vaguely recognizes the man, and he tenses.

"Tell your daddy to get me the money he owes, boy," the man - his father's drinking buddy - growls in a thick Henrietta accent. "I'm not gonna wait much longer."

Adam wasn't aware his father owed anyone money, but it's not a surprise. He nods, quick and jerky, just wanting to get out of this moment. Hoping that there's nothing but a warning here, no one who needs to prove a point with their fists and chose the smaller, less dangerous Parrish for it.

"Next time I won't ask so nice," the man says. He spits at Adam, barely missing him, then rolls up his window.

The truck drives away. Adam rides home, promising himself once again that he'll get out. Somehow.

**three.**

They aren't talking about him, not really. Not specifically. Most of the other students at Aglionby know Adam isn't as rich as them - know he's there on scholarship - but they don't really know the poverty he comes from.

So he reminds himself again that they're not talking about him. Not on purpose.

But they are, really. Him, and anyone else like him. The other people in the trailer park. His parents. Him.

They're laughing about the dollar store, the cheap crap they found there. Wondering who would use _dollar store soap_ or _dollar store dishes_. It'd be as good as taking something out of a dumpster, they're saying, not caring that that's all some people can afford. Not caring that Adam has had to count pennies to be able to afford soap, that dishes break and replacements can be pricy.

One day he won't have to count pennies. One day he'll be able to smash a hundred dishes and buy more.

But he thinks even then he won't laugh about it the way they're doing. His hand tightens on his pen, he focuses on his work, he tries to block them out.

**four.**

The first time Ronan imitates his accent, it stings.

It makes Adam's spine stiffen, his lips tighten. It's all he can do to keep from snapping at Ronan, glaring at him, but he knows Ronan is only doing it to get a reaction. He knows it's just that Ronan thinks his hick accent is funny, that he still doesn't like Adam much, that he's trying to wound.

He doesn't say anything, but it smarts, and he watches his words even more carefully after that. Tightens it up, shortening vowels, doing his best to sound like any of the other students. Like Gansey.

Eventually he realizes that Ronan didn't mean to be an asshole. Or rather - he did, he always means to be an asshole, but not about that. Ronan likes to imitate anyone with a particular style of speech, mocking them casually. Adam wasn't the first and he isn't the last, and Ronan didn't know (or care - Adam won't give him too much credit) that it was a sensitive subject. Adam even finds himself biting back a grin at Ronan's careless impression of their biology teacher, or the posh accents of some of their classmates, or Gansey.

He didn't really mean it. Still, Adam is more careful, watching the words that slip past his lips. Trying to make it natural. Trying to make it second nature. 

**five.**

He watches Gansey in class, watches him bent over his notes. He doesn't think Gansey is actually paying attention to the lecture - he thinks Gansey is writing about his lost king, instead. Gansey doesn't need to pay attention in class, not if he doesn't want to. Gansey has everything, so easily, and sometimes Adam yearns deeply for that.

A casual way with money, not caring what anything costs. Easy intelligence that he never seems to need to work for. Charisma that draws people to him, adults and other students and everyone in between. The devotion of a person like Ronan, fierce and frightening. A path laid out before him, and all he has to do is walk it, instead of clawing his way up inch by inch the way Adam has to.

It isn't so much that he wants to be Gansey. There are things about Gansey that make Adam cringe, things that annoy him. But Adam knows he doesn't want to be himself, either. 

Gansey is a good person and a true friend. Adam is jealous of what he has, envious of the way the world turns at his will, but that includes him, too. As jealous as Adam might be, it's only right that Gansey has all of this. He deserves it.

Someday maybe Adam will be able to deserve something similar.

**+one.**

They're at Nino's, because of course they're at Nino's. Gansey ordered Adam's favorite, and for once Adam is letting him pay, because they're celebrating. Because there's something _to_ celebrate. Because, after everything, he's done it.

Next to the pizza on the table are six letters, the collected responses to Adam's college applications, each one an acceptance. Each one offering financial aid in varying quantities. His future is assured, his goals - for now - met. Everything he worked so hard for. All those late nights and extra shifts, missed sleep and scraping for pennies.

They all want him, and now he gets to decide which he likes best.

And Gansey is across the table, with Henry on one side and Blue on the other, alive and smiling, laughing at something Henry said, his shoulder pressed to Blue's. He's alive, he's here, he's more content than Adam has ever seen him.

Under the table, Ronan takes his hand. Adam smiles at the boy sitting next to him, loose and easy and comfortable. The smile he gets in return is sharp, because Ronan is still full of sharp edges, but it's true and happy and it makes Adam's heart beat faster.

There's nowhere else he'd rather be. He's Adam Parrish, and this is the life he's built for himself.


End file.
